Ilumina
by Ryocha
Summary: Balmung enters The World R:2 and finds himself spirited into conflicts he never dreamed of finding himself in. Why does he want to protect TriEdge? Why does he find himself entangled in fate with Haseo and the other Epitaph Users? Only time will tell.
1. Prologue

Hello, and welcome! Some of you might recognize this story from deviantART, and it's pretty much the same, but with some edits done! This is Shinigami-Maxwell on her account, by the way. -bows-

I hope you enjoy the story of a mini-retelling of .hack//G.U.

* * *

"…_and then I said, ' You know what, buddy? SCREW YOU! Take all my fucking items if you want, you'll never—_"

"…Take my pride, or my drive to conquor the world. CC Corp will be mine for the taking." A bemused figure read out loud. Truth be told, he was amused by the outburst from this user. He squinted to read the name of the user who posted such a trashy comment; it was 'Devilnish'. "Those n00bs are becoming more creative these days." He chuckled, checking the box beside the post, then clicking 'Delete' with a satisfied chuckle.

It had been quite a long time since he had done that.

How long has it been since he had logged into The World? Ever since the first got destroyed in the fire, he had never found the drive to phone CC Corp to restore his user, and he regretted it dearly. Many of the items on his avatar were out of date and not sold in stores anymore, or were able to be found anywhere in The World R:2.

This might pose a problem, he thought grimly, logging in to The World for the first time in several years. He'll be the target of PKers for sure – not that he was worried or anything – but he hated being in the spotlight for long periods of time.

And for the first time in his life, the goggles now covering his eyes felt alien to him, like they weren't supposed to belong. The controller-keyboard felt cold and clammy in his ageing hands, and then, with a beep…

He was inside his second home.

Username: Balmung  
_**Level: 154**  
__Welcome to "The World R:2."_


	2. Begins with a Cucumber

Before I begin, I would like to warn everyone that Balmung is OOC here for the sake of LULZ and YAOI. Don't worry, he's joking, and only screwing around with our little favourite bitchy Adept Rogue. So pay no need to OOCness, and enjoy. xD

* * *

Virtual eyes blinked twice, awed and amazed at how the graphics had become more realistic. The details on the walls, the other users (whom were giving him some perculiar glances), the Chaos Gates… everything had changed for the better. Cautiously, he checked the Root Town he was in, and a familiar smile crept up onto his lips. "Mac Anu… it's been some time." He purred.

Distrupting his self-musing, Balmung quickly drew his attention to the other users around him, some which were looking curiously, others with devilish intentions printed across their faces and others with blank, unreadable expressions. He should have known better than to not ask CC Corp to update his avatar, but they brushed it off and simply uploaded the old data on to his account again. Which, of course, was going to cause him problems.

Casting a casual glance around, he began his steady, smooth walk to the doors. But a heaty voice caught his attention immediately.

"The hell are you? I've never seen those pieces of armor before!" A presumably younger player yelled, his face in a twist of anger and confusion.

The white-haired man simply offered the boy a cool look, "I'm a player, just like you." He said in a gravely whisper, sending a few girls aflutter.

Again, he was off, briefly stopping by the Save Shop in order to save his minor progress thus far. Another hidden smile graced his thin lips.

Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad after all.

He had been right about his prediction. As soon as he had walked out of those doors, users had begun to make threads on the official boards asking people if they'd seen his kind of armor in any stores. The replies had been all the same "No, we haven't. D'you think he could have illegally modified his character?" He had no desire whatsoever to answer those questions, so he continued to wander around Mac Anu in silent appreciation.

The city had changed quite a bit since he had last been there; there was now a dock with large Victorian ships lining its piers, and the entire feel of the city truly did make him feel as though he was in ancient Italy again.

But in truth, he felt lonely being here knowing he knew no one. Just a little, mind you. He could always make new aquaintances – with his rising 'popularity', he was sure to catch the eyes of quite a few PKers and other rare item hunters.

"Hey!"

Yes, it will be quite a new journey for him in this world. In his other one, the one where his real body resided, he felt like a tired old man just wanting to escape oncemore into the place where his mind had come almost to accept The World as reality. It had been a crashing sensation when The World suddenly didn't exist anymore, and he found himself disgusted with himself for delving into the second realm as though he was desprate to escape the real one.

Yes, desprate. Everyone in The World was desprate. The ones who loved it dearly were the ones who wanted to escape from the stress in their life, and live in this one where their troubles were minor. The PKers thrived here because they could dominate over others, where in the "real" world they could do no such thing. That was simply how it was.

"Hey!!"

Perhaps he should join a Guild of some sort, or try to form a party to test out his skills. But he somehow found the idea of forming a party to be a hassle, and always preffered to go solo into areas, anyway…

"**HEY!"**

Bemused, the legendary user turned around to find the spiky younger boy from the Chaos Gate. "Yes?" He questioned, looking the boy over. He wasn't a very high level, so he assumed that he had more of a bark than a bite. Nevertheless, he was the first nuiscence he had to deal with, so he might as well have a bit of fun with him.

The white-haired Adept Rogue took a defense stance, "Listen, I don't know who you are, and who or what modified your avatar, but atleast tell me—"

"If I'm free?" Balmung cocked a slim white eyebrow at the boy. "I am, but I'm not one to go for minors—"

"WAIT!" The white-haired user retorted. "I didn't mean—"

"That I'm desprately looking, but only casually asking a random bystander for hot sex? I'm very sorry, as much as I'de love to pound—"

"SHUT UP FOR A SECOND!" The Adept Rogue almost screeched, his face a mixture of embaressment and anger. "I meant to ask you—"

"For a spare dildo? No thanks, I've used up all of mine."

Balmung knew that he was driving the teenage boy to his limit, and it was amusing him to do so. Though, he pondered, he would be known on the boards now as a gay sex phoen, but he didn't mind at the moment.

From his musing did he turn his attention back to the boy – he decided to push aside his lazyness to read his username "Haseo" – whom was fit to burst at the seams. Actually, he already was, and luckily had missed a heaping part of his squealing rant.

"…and I don't know why people waste time searching for some pervert!" Was the last bit he caught from the Adept Rogue. Balmung gave the white-haired boy a bored stare.

"I was joking earlier, " He couldn't believe some people could be so serious, "So get your e-thong out of a knot. I don't have time to waste on immature brats such as yourself, so please be off unless you have other business with me."

The legendary man then turned away from Haseo, whom was left a tad numb, but very angry.

It was then a spark of inginuity was set off inside Balmung, and he threw the boy a Magical Cucumber.

"The hell? And hey—" Haseo was about to yell, holding such a huge cucumber, before Balmung cut him off again.

"Here. Use that to try and wedge out the stick that's rammed up your ass. And while your at it, masturbate with it. Because the way you're acting, you'll never be getting any with that attitude. Prick." Balmung added thoughtfully at the end, and continued walking.

"You… you…" Haseo was at a loss of words.

"You… **PERVERT**!" He screamed at the retreating white and blue user.

"Said like a little virgin girl!" Balmung shot back, sending the Adept Rogue into a fit of swearing and stomping.

"_So_ immature."


	3. Ends with an Innuendo

Honey-brown eyes narrowed in confusion, another pair of bright black eyes widened as they tried to make sense of what their ears were hearing.

A cough.

A shuffle of the controller in clammy hands.

A blush.

A disgruntled cut-off—

"That's nice, Haseo." Silabus said slowly, trying to be discreet with the Adept Rogue whom had been ranting to them for the past ten minutes about his past encounter with the 'mysterious user' the boards were fired up about. "But…"

"We find it kinda hard that he _met_ you." Gaspard finished, a rosy blush across his cheeks, perhaps given when the white-haired user began describing IN DETAIL what 'Balmung' had said to him.

Haseo frowned and crossed his arms, put back at their suspicion. "What? You don't believe me?" He snapped. Silabus chuckled uneasily – anyone could tell it was forced.

"Well… not quite. It's not that we don't believe you…" The Blade Brandier then exchanged nervous looks with the Beast user. "But… um…"

It took the green-clad teen a while to find the right words, forcing an impatient grunt out of Haseo—"From the way he carried himself, he didn't seem to be the type to say such, um, things." Again, Silabus coughed, embaressed.

"But he did! Do you want me to repeat them?" Haseo spat. With red eyes he watched Gaspard perform a half-choked response, not wanting to rape his poor virgin ears a second time. Silabus bit his lower lip and looked away, averting the Adept Rogue's persistant stare, and blushed lightly under the glare.

Taken aback, Haseo rolled his eyes. "Fine, I won't repeat them. But he did say those things to me, regardless." Both users, Blade Brandier and Beast, let out a sigh of relief, much to the anger of the Adept Rogue. Haseo then reached behind him, and pulled out an item from his inventory.

Instantly the brown-haired user was intrigued, "Whatcha got there, Haseo?" Silabus questioned, looking at the long green item in his Guildmaster's hand.

"It's a… Magical Cucumber, I think." The younger man replied, black-gloved hands raising to scratch messy white hair in confusion. "That's what this Balmung guy told me, anyway."

Gaspard was instantly excited, "I've never seen such an item, Haseo!" He exchanged looks with the Adept Rogue, "This could probably mark a high price if you tried selling it—"

"No way!" The black-belt-clad user rejected, crossing his arms defiantly with the cucumber sticking out at an odd angle, "I ain't selling this till I get to the bottom of our problem!"

"You'll be damned if you could solve all your problems – then you wouldn't have anything to whine about! oink"

Red eyes belonging to the firey, belt-clad user narrowed in anger as Canard's NPC Grunty brought itself into the conversation. Silabus let out a remorseful sigh between pursed lips, knowing very well where this conversation will lead his friend and his NPC look-a-like. Gaspard simply whimpered and shuffled a bit behind the green-clad Blade Brandier, not wanting to get involved.

"Stay out of this, you!"

"'You'? I have a proper name, you know. oink "

"Whatever. This isn't your problem, so stay out of it!"

"Like I have a choice in the matter; you're yelling so loud I bet all the other guilds could hear you without a sinch! oink "

"Why you little…" A green-gloved hand was pressed against Haseo's leather-clad chest, catching the warnful look from honey-brown eyes very near his own. Silabus merely shook his head, the pressure on the Adept Rogue's chest suddenly becoming almost unbearable. Almost.

"Don't waste your words on an NPC," The Blade Brandier whispered, frowning a little, then pulling away. Almost immediately did Haseo feel the pressure leave his chest, and he found himself feeling very confused, with no reason behind it.

Gaspard sent him an equally confused look, "Haseo, what's wrong?"

Shocked, the Adept Rogue jumped on the spot and sent both Gaspard and the honeybrown-eyed-user a slightly surprised look. Silabus chuckled softly, making Haseo feel even more embaressed than before.

"S-Shut up." He muttered, looking away, feeling very cornered and suddenly very awkward. Luckily, the NPC seemed to work into the Adept Rogue's favour.

" oink Hey, Haseo! What's that green dildo-looking item ya got there? oink"

Unfortunately, not everything was in his favour.

"W-W-WHAT?!" Haseo nearly screeched, almost scared that an NPC had such a wide-range of vocabulary. In this shock, he dropped the Magical Cucumber to the floor with a soft 'dink', and watched in horror as the oddly similar Grunty rushed up and snatched it. He then scampered back to his comfortable spot in the middle of Canard's Home.

"Yup! oink Looks like a dildo to me!" He chirped almost evily. "Maybe… oink"

"Maybe you'de like to use this with Silabus! oinkoink"

Silabus's face went bright red, hands moving to cover a gawking mouth as he choked slightly. He couldn't believe he was getting flustered and embaressed over something so stupid! It was just an NPC cracking a joke, right? Then why did he feel so fluttery?

The Blade Brandier exchanged embaressed looks with the black-clad Adept Rogue. However, Haseo's look had been far more vicious, looking almost ready to kill.

Personally, Silabus didn't mind.

"You scawny little BASTAR—" 

"Hmm. _Cosy_; the guild homes didn't look this nice the last time I played."

The new voice caught everyone's attention, some with the most horrendous effects.

Haseo spun around, his eyes going wide like saucers. Like, wide like I-JUST-SAW-SHINO-NAKED-AND-REALIZED-SHE-WAS-A-MAN-AND-THAT-I'M-GAY wide.

Silabus gawked and sidestepped behind Haseo in an attempt to be protected.

Gaspard did the same.

Balmung blinked at them. "What? Did I come in at the wrong time or something? You left the front door open, you know."

* * *

The plot thickens, somewhat. x3 Balmung is still retaining a somewhat OOC manner that will become almost non-existant in later chapters. Pretty much, he's being carefree since he hasn't upheld his stern manner since he last played, and thus causes him to slip into OOC spouts.

Reviews are loved to tell me where I'm doing good and bad in! Much love guys:3  
(And yes, yaoi. SILAHASE YAOI. 'Cuz we need it.)


	4. Inquisition

"So let me get this straight," Golden eyes narrowed at the white-haired figure sitting cross-legged in front of him, attempting to look innocent and happy, "You just opened those doors and HAPPENED upon this place?"

Balmung laughed heartily and crossed his arms in a mock of the Adept Rogue's stance, "Seems to be the problem, yes?" He questioned while cocking a slim white eyebrow. "Why, was there some new form of a process to enter a guild?"

Silabus took the effort to speak up in place of his Guildmaster, who's annoyed pout and growl went unnoticed. "Yeah, there is," Silabus took a tentive look at Haseo, then back up at Balmung, "You have to have a guild's key in order to enter a guild. It's impossible to without one, especially if the Guildmaster doesn't give it to you. Do you have one?"

Balmung shook his head, then raised questioning eyes back up to the brunette. "Sorry, don't have one—"

"You're lieing. It's either you have one or you have a cheat to get in here." Haseo stated firmly, red eyes blazing with fury towards the legendary user. Silabus could feel Gaspard becoming more and more worried, as his whimpers were beginnging to grow more from behind him. Personally, Silabus too was beginning to become weary of the situation. If this Balmung user didn't have a key, then how did he get in here?

By will alone, or…?

By the time the Blade Brandier had left his pondering thoughts, the debate between the two other users had become heated.

"Who were you in your past life in The World?" The Adept Rogue snapped.

Haseo watched on as golden eyes suddenly became hard and narrowed slightly, a voice leaving the throat of the King of the Azure Skies that striked a pang of fear into his two friends behind him. Slowly, he felt the hand that Silabus had placed on his shoulder tighten, his breath hitching. Balmung then began speaking as though each word was exagurated to the point where it was its own sentence. (Think almost William Shatner.)

"You do not ask me questions with such arrogance, you fool. I have a right to retain my own information. If this is all you are going to say to me, then I'll leave and we'll never have to cross paths again." Demonic golden eyes then raised to meet a pair of honey brown opted staring diludedly back at him. "And I think this conversation is over. Your friends seem to want it to be, anyway."

The white-haired Adept Rogue felt at a loss of words, not because of the content in the sentences, but the way they were said. He'd never heard such malice be put behind something so simple. Regardless, he wasn't going to let the prick off so easily!

"He—"

"Haseo."

The hand, forgotten on his shoulder, gave a tentive squeeze to the belt-clad surface.

"What?"

"Let me talk to him." The voice came out as barely a whisper, but it was enough to send a mix of emotions through Haseo all at once.

"You won't be able to get past him, he won't answer anything about himself beyond the fact that he's here." Haseo snapped, craning his neck around to properly glare at the Blade Brandier's calm exterior. It was easy to see the 19-year-old had been shaken, and he didn't want any further damage to be done to someone who could barely manage a person like himself.

"It's alright, just give me one shot." Silabus whispered again, voice gaining confidence as he continued speaking.

"Alright," Haseo gave up, belt-clad shoulders shrugging, "But don't blame me if it backfires." Arrogance, he made sure, laced his voice thickly.

"Thanks, and I'll keep what you said in mind." But such arrogance the Blade Brandier was used to, and ignored promptly. Silabus rose to his feet, his thin-built frame clad in green and black belts suddenly making him seem older than he already was. Maybe it was that air of maturity that had swamped the Adept Rogue then, but he swore he could feel his eyes trail deeply along the hemline of the green and black drawstring pants, up the light-green-rimmed coat and to a face as solemn as a deserted area field.

He blinked, red eyes conveying confusion. His thoughts were baffling him today, and he damnwell didn't like it.

"Balmung-san," Silabus began, his voice still showing signs of wearyness. But his eyes shone bright, which caused Balmung to turn around slowly, eyes still as hard as stone.

"I appolagize deeply for what my Guildmaster said to you, but you must understand that what you did was a serious matter, and that my Guildmaster had a right to question your method of entry, and you too need to understand how serious this matter is as well." The brown-haired user took a tentive breath, shallow and almost meaningless. He felt so out of breath all of a sudden.

Balmung's eyes softened a bit, perhaps because of the way the Blade Brandier had presented himself to him. He turned around fully, wings swaying around his blue and silver-armoured body while doing so. "I have already explained to you that I do not know how I got here. There were no glitches, no cheats and no hackings used," his eyes momentarily straightened to look at the Adept Rogue, whom was staying quiet while his guildmember spoke. "But I do assure you that I did not mean any harm."

"I know, for you would have not stayed as long as you did," Silabus felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth, "And I thank you for doing that. But I'm afraid we might need to contact CC Corp in order to fully understand what went on. Do you mind if we exchange member addresses so we can keep in contact?"

Balmung blinked, and then smiled back at the Blade Brandier's kind words. "But of course. Shall I also exchange my member's address with your…. Guildmaster?" He turned his attention back onto Haseo, whom was quiet, but still angry.

The Adept Rogue bit on his lip, swallowed his pride and stood up to match height with Silabus. "Alright, but don't go and get yourself PK'd or be the target of any stalkers, got it? We can't afford to lose contact with you." Ill feelings were laced in with his words, but the white-haired warrior chose to ignore them.

"It works for me, alright." A few blips later through the skilled use of the hand controller and their addresses were with each other. Haseo frowned, looking at the username 'Balmung' over and over again, almost expecting it to tell him something.

"Hey," his voice was curt, and signalled to Balmung that Haseo wanted more information from him. He sighed, exhaustedly, "Yes?"

"You can respond to this or not, it's your choice. But where did you get that cucumber you gave to me?" Crimson eyes narrowed slightly as they watched for any sign of emotion on the white-haired man's face.

"It's nothing, simply an item from The World R:1. So it would be a useless tool here, in the market or anywhere else." Came the evenly curt response, eyes beginning to unharden, the golden colour flowing back into them. "Is that all?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Then I'll be off."

While watching Balmung leave, Haseo turned his attention to Silabus, and then noticed subtly that Gaspard's user service had gone inactive a few feet away from him (when a character has no commands for a certain period of time, it goes 'inactive'). He sighed, more to himself than anyone else. He truly didn't know how things got so complicated for him, whether it was Tri-Edge or this new threat 'Balmung'. _Especially_ Balmung.

"Hey," he broke the deaftning silence that was laying itself like a soft blanket over Canard. He turned to Silabus, whose eyes were still casted longingly on the place where Balmung had left.

"Hey," His voice didn't seem to reach the Blade Brandier, his eyes zoned out, honey brown eyes still watching, waiting for Balmung to come back. A pinprick of annoyance spiked his pride with a quick stab.

"Silabus!" His voice rose, and caught the Blade Bandier off-guard. His character stumbled a few feet before catching itself, then bringing itself back towards Haseo with an embaressed smile.

"Sorry about that, I was just—"

"You don't need to say it." Haseo snapped, crossing his arms defiantly and letting his crimson eyes say the words he wanted instead of his mouth. The brown-haired man sighed.

"Why were you being so… friendly with Balmung?" The words themselves surprised the belt-clad user and Silabus. They sounded so rough, mean and jelous – something Haseo usually sounded like anyway, but it was enhanced by the way his eyes caught the honey-brown pair across from him. It startled the Blade Bandier, and made him suddenly feel very cornered.

"I'm always like this," he retorted, laughing uneasily, "Balmung-san does seem like a nice person though, perhaps we should contact him later?"

Haseo twitched, "_I'm_ contacting him later. I don't want him to start infesting any of you with his thoughts and _him himself_." _Plus, it makes more sense since I'm in G.U. – maybe I can get Kuhn or Pai to do a backround check on him_.

Silabus chuckled, his heart fluttering as silence settled in again, "Alright, whatever works _Guildmaster_." He teased. "And I almost forgot to tell you, but I wasn't staring off at him."

Haseo blinked twice.

"I actually spilt my water over the side of my desk, and had to go and clean it up. Sorry it took so long, but you didn't let me explain."

A tanned face, usually devoid of complicated teenager emotions, were now being displayed at that very moment, tinted red with embaressment. "S-Shut up. I knew that. But at the rate you were cleaning up at, your service would have gone inactive, too." He said the last bit faster than usual, his eyes not wanting to make contact with a curious pair of honey-brown.

Silabus merely smiled softly.

As if God were smiling down upon the Adept Rogue, a blipping IM showed up over Haseo's white-haired head that broke the heavy silence. Sighing under his breath, he opened it and read over the contents quickly.

Crimson eyes widened as he read the title over and over again, making sure it was not lieing to him.

To: Haseo  
From: Pai  
Subject: Tri-Edge Tip-off

Master Yata told me to inform you of some very crucial information concerning the AIDA virus known as Tri-Edge. Please meet me in G.U.'s HOME so we can discuss this info in private.

'_A tip off on Tri-Edge, this just might be my lucky day!'_ A slow, wicked smile spread across the Adept Rogue's face, hinting to the brown-haired Blade Brandier that whatever Haseo was reading, he was liking it greatly. He was suddenly curious as to what the contents were, but didn't dare pry. He knew too well what would happen if he did.

'_Still, it would be nice for him to discuss things with me, even if it was pointless or had no meaning. Just talking at all would be nice._' A lonely ache pinched at the hollow spot in his cavity, the empty feeling growing bit by bit. '_Haseo doesn't tell me much about ANYTHING, as a matter of fact. He's very uptight about any of that sort of stuff, so private. Like he doesn't want to include anyone else with his own matters_.'

Honey-brown eyes continued to watch Haseo as he was typing avidly, almost as though he had a new sense of purpose in his existance here in The World. He was… almost obsessed with Tri-Edge, this PKer that had brought his character from a very high level back down to level one. But for such strong emotions to be put behind his hatred, something else must have happened.

Silabus' eyes softened, feeling the hole in his cavity open just a little bit farther. '_I hate to speculate and assume, but even though he tries to hide it from me, Gaspard and Atoli, it seems that something must have happened to further deepen his hatred for Tri-Edge. Haseo…_'

"Hey, Silabus." The emotionless voice belonging to the Adept Rogue rang, crimson eyes raising questioningly at the Blade Brandier caught staring off at him again. "You spilled your water again?"

"N-No, I was just thinking." Silabus chuckled softly, trying to hide the embaressment in his voice. "What is it?"

"I got a tip-off on Tri-Edge and I'm going to check it out. After that, I'll probably be logging off for the night." The cold words sounded almost robotic, yet still human at the same time.

Silabus sighed, he was thinking too much, and when he did, his mind did terrible things to him. _'Just breathe, Yuuichi._'

"Alright; come to think of it, it is pretty late, isn't it? Almost ten o'clock." He tried to make himself sound perfectly normal. "I guess I'll log off, too."

"Don't try and stay online for my sake, you have a life out there you need to live in too." Haseo's words came out sounding mildly concerned, almost as if he actually DID care. It was a thought worth musing, but Silabus didn't dare tred on such dangerous ground.

"I know, I know." He laughed lightheartedly, "But The World is so interesting, sometimes I just get sucked into it and don't know when to stop!"

A white eyebrow was arched at the Blade Brandier, "Don't you study and talk to friends, though?" Sometimes he doubted his friend's interests, sometimes moreso than other times.

"I do, but I have to admit that The World does take up most of my time. Outside studying for my courses, of course." Silabus replied curtly, brown eyes dancing over the perplexed expression of the tanned, white-haired rogue.

"You're in… University?" Haseo said, confused.

"Yeah, second year while majoring in Psychology." The brown-haired man beamed proudly, "I like learning how people react and the science behind it."

Huhn, something he didn't know about Silabus. Haseo made a mental note to remember that for further conversations. He idly checked the time, and knew he had to get going.

"I have to go now, sorry." Haseo said with a wave, turning to leave. In truth, the conversation he had with his online friend had been refreshing from what they had just experienced. But he had duties that he had to fufill, and he wasn't about to let them lower on his priority list.

Silabus smiled, his monkey tail-like ponytail flipping over his shoulder as he waved the tempermental Adept Rogue off with a grin. "Goodluck, I hope you find something on Tri-Edge!"

"Thanks." Honey-brown orbs watched Haseo walk out of Canard, and a sudden ache of unfufillment slowly began to grow in his cavity.

He pondered his options, and smiled shyly to himself. With a soft laugh, he logged out for the night, his heart happy and mind on Cloud Nine.

* * *

"So you came."

Haseo snorted and flipped his unruly mop of white hair upwards with a jerk of his neck, "You know me, Pai, I'm serious about this."

She sighed, deciding to ignore such an ignorant comment for the moment. "It seems that Tri-Edge was found back at Delta Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground, the Hulle Granz Cathedral," the serious look in her eyes caught the evenly serious crimson pair across from her, "So be careful."

"Is that all? There's always a catch whenever you call me here."

"Your ignorance astounds me today, but there is one thing I must add on before you leave," Pai pushed up her red-rimmed glasses, golden eyes shining behind the thin frames.

"Lately, as reports continue to file in for Tri-Edge, a new pattern in his behavior has been detected - but only in the last three recent attacks, so it is unsure to place any judgements on him at this stage." The Tribal Grappler switched her weight from one leg to the other, and crossed her arms.

"Tri-Edge, as witnesses claim, appears to be crying, moaning and yelling out for a specific user. No one hears the name of this person, but people say he's calling out for someone inside The World. Strangely enough, his last three PKs have been all in one day – today, might I add." She finished, nodding her head while her pink pigtails bobbed accordingly.

Haseo frowned, "That coincides with…"

"…The return of Balmung of the Azure Skies, a legendary user from The World R:1." Pai finished, her voice sounding satisfied. "It definitely ties in, but as I said, this is currently only speculation. We should not assume anything at this point, but it's an option we still must consider."

"That Balmung guy isn't so _legendary_," Haseo ranted with an annoying whine in his voice, shrugging his shoulders. "But yeah, do the usual, keep all options open, right? Have you or Kuhn done a backround check on him yet?"

"Not possible."

"What? Why?!"

"Because all data from the first version of The World has been erased, remember? We have no entry logs, no area field data, nothing. We know nothing about his past life here except that he became Legendary and participated in an extraordinary event that changed the way the game 'The World' was played forever. Have you ever heard of the Dot Hackers, Haseo?"

"Nope, don't wanna. Atleast, not right now." He turned on his heels and walked towards the exit of G.U.. "You can tell me when I get back." He waved Pai off, the pink-haired woman sighing in annoyance and, when he left, stomped her heel-clad foot into the ground and muttered out a few choice words for the immature Adept Rogue.

* * *

Standing outside the dimly lit Guildhome in Mac Anu, Haseo was barely able to notice that he had one waiting IM for him from Silabus. Seeing as the user was already offline, he decided to open it and delete it soon after.

Silabus says: Sorry to IM you like this, but I forgot to wish you to be safe while looking for Tri-Edge tonight. He's very dangerous and can put people into coma's, and I'de hate for you to experience that. Be safe, please.

Crimson eyes looked over the IM, and barely brought himself to delete it. '_Believe me, Silabus, I've already experienced it…sometimes, I wish I never did'_. He felt vulnerable, reading his friend's instant message. Emotions from his noob days washed over him, and made him feel lost and terrified, like the feeling he felt when he first got PKed. Hastily, he clicked the delete button and began walking again. Thoughts of Ovan were rising in his mind, and he hated for _those_ to be rectified at a time like this.

'_Now, with everything here, all the pieces together… I can protect the present, and bring back Shino._' Haseo's eyes burned brighter, his crimson glowing in the darkness that washed over Mac Anu, barely any users on the Japanese server to catch such eyes.

'_Protect the present… preserve the future…_' He smiled coyly. '_Thanks Silabus, you won't regret helping me._'

* * *

The long-awaited chapter four! I promise I'll try and make it an effort to put up the rest! x.x 

-Ryocha


End file.
